Connected Aerospace

The surprise move brings together two former archrivals with differing satellite strategies—Inmarsat and Panasonic Avionics.

U.S. airlines and air traffic controllers are realizing benefits from using text-based messages to supplement radio communications.

Inmarsat and Panasonic Avionics said they will combine their broadband inflight connectivity (IFC) services in a “landmark” deal to offer IFC to commercial aviation customers.

Airbus’ Silicon Valley outpost lays out a road map for transforming low-altitude airspace to enable growth in unmanned aircraft and autonomous air taxis.

The first GPS III is scheduled for launch in December, and Lockheed Martin is looking at technologies for a tranche of satellites.

A look at some of the world’s up-and-coming positioning, navigation and timing constellations.

Thousands of airliners are capable of using the Ground-Based Augmentation System, but only a few major U.S. airports now have the system.

How a Tier 1 provider plans to go from being an old-school manufacturer to a digital powerhouse.

Rapid growth of the region’s major carriers has put pressure on airports and air navigation service providers to keep up.

Demand for broadband connectivity aboard business aircraft is booming. Passengers expect seamless Wi-Fi access to the internet as much as they count on other services.

Northrop Grumman is to flight test an RF comm link that can provide fiber-like data capacity from high-altitude surveillance aircraft direct to FOBs.

United Technologies has bought a predictive analytics boutique as part of the Tier 1 supplier’s corporate push into becoming a software-industrial giant.

Here is a sampling of some of the major satellite missions being taken on by smallsats.

Aviation industry interest in hybrid-electric technology is growing as limitations of all-electric propulsion become clearer.

Inflight connectivity is a highly sought-after commodity by airlines and their passengers, but some suppliers are facing a money crunch.

Emirates helps make seat selection a more accurate experience for its passengers via an immersive, 3D, online process.

Aiming for streamlined production and improved in-service reliability, Airbus expands Skywise to suppliers.

French space agency CNES has tapped Zodiac Data Systems for the development of an autonomous range safety system at its Kourou, French Guiana launch site.

Thales has evolved its Avionics 2020 cockpit electronics demonstrator into a still-unnamed conceptual flight deck that will make the most of growing data processing capabilities.

Cyberdefense presents a series of difficult problems for governments, not least that of deciding which branch of the state should lead the response.

If the problems for nation states are difficult to solve in the cyber domain, they are close to intractable at present when it comes to the related but very different area of information warfare.

Cyient, the Indian-headquartered global solutions provider has announced a new line of low-cost transmit-receive modules for X-band active, electronically scanned array radars that will for its home market and export.

The commercial-off-the-shelf solutions interface with a variety of mission systems and are available for rapid deployment, the company says.

The most intriguing exhibit in the Airshow’s Cargo Vilage this year comes from AirBridgeCargo Airlines, which has replicated elements of its new Moscow digital control tower here.

If ways can be found to better harness the innovation and speed-of-movement of small and medium-size enterprises, the benefits to UK defense will be considerable.